Safely delivering delicate payloads from the ocean surface to the ocean floor is a challenging task. If a delivery vehicle descends too fast and impacts too hard with the ocean floor, instruments carried by the vehicle will be damaged. If the vehicle descends too slow, surface currents may cause it to miss its target. One existing technology is the use of drogue chutes to slow the descent rate of the payload's delivery vehicle. Drogue chutes essentially act as underwater parachutes. However, drogue chutes limit the ability to deploy a payload from the tail end of the vehicle because of the risk of entanglement of the payload with the chute. Further, drogue chutes limit the ability to deploy instruments such as antenna arrays from the vehicle, also due to the risk of entanglements.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for improved underwater delivery systems.